Version numbers in Business Central

Business Central online and on-premises consists of different components that must work together. If you are an end-user, this doesn't matter in the course of your normal work day, however; if you are an administrator, knowing the version numbers is important for troubleshooting, development, and on-premises upgrade scenarios.

You can use the information about which version the tenant is on to help you troubleshoot an issue that a user has reported, for example. This information is listed in the Troubleshooting section of the Help and Support page in Business Central in the following format:

Version	Example	Description
Platform <major>.<minor>.<build>.<revision>	20.0.12345.0	Specifies the full platform version, which includes client and server components.
Application <major>.<minor>.<build>.<revision>	20.1.23456.0	Specifies the full version number for the application, including the major version number and build number.

In the Business Central administration center, the version information is rendered slightly differently:

Version	Example	Description
Platform <major>.<minor>	20.1	Specifies the major and minor version of the platform, which includes client and server components.
Application <major>.<minor>.<build>.<revision>	20.1.23456.0	Specifies the full version number for the application.

The numbers are updated based on Microsoft's builds. In the default version of Business Central online, platform and application have the same major version number but different build numbers. If you perform a technical upgrade of Business Central on-premises, then platform and application will have different versions.

The following list describes the meaning of each of the numbers in a full version number:

• major is the major version of Business Central

  • 24 is the Business Central 2024 release wave 1 update in April 2024 and forward
  • 23 is the Business Central 2023 release wave 2 update in October 2023 and forward
  • 22 is the Business Central 2023 release wave 1 update in April 2023 and forward
  • 21 is the Business Central 2022 release wave 2 update in October 2022 and forward
  • 20 is the Business Central 2022 release wave 1 update in April 2022 and forward
  • 19 is the Business Central 2021 release wave 2 update in October 2021 and forward
  • 18 is the Business Central 2021 release wave 1 update in April 2021 and forward
  • 17 is the Business Central 2020 release wave 2 update in October 2020 and forward
  • 16 is the Business Central 2020 release wave 1 update in April 2020 and forward
  • 15 is the Business Central 2019 release wave 2 update in October 2019 and forward
  • 14 is the Business Central April 2019 release
  • 13 is the Business Central October 2018 release
  • 12 is the April 2018 launch of Business Central

• minor is the monthly update number, such as 0, 1, or 5.

• build is the five digit build number, such as 23456.

• revision is set to 0 for the original release and can remain at 0. However, if the tenant is patched with a hotfix, then that build number can be applied.

In other words, if you see a version number such as 20.1.23456.26323, then it means major version 20, update number 1, build number 23456, and hotfix number 26323.

The same version numbers are used to identify versions in Business Central on-premises, including when you deploy containers on Docker.

See also

Managing technical support
Installing a cumulative update
Administration of Business Central online